Title: Identity
Author: Girlfearless AKA Christy
Don't own it, never will, don't even really wish I did right now.
A/N: Okay this chapter set a lot of the tone for where the story is going to go. I've had a lot of ideas in mind and, as I think I've mentioned, this story certainly isn't going to be as complicated or involved as The Road Less Traveled, but because I am weaving in into what's going on, on GH right now I want to make a few things clear. First, Claudia and Johnny's relationship is a little different than it was on the show, there has been some contact with them (and some with Alyssa) over the years and that will be obvious in how close the three are and some of the stories they share with each other, but I just wanted to make it clear that there has been a relationship, though strained, with the three of them over the years. Second, I am not sure what the hell Ian's motives were on GH, but I did want to incorporate him into this story so there will be a hint of an old relationship (that will be explained more later) between Ian and the Zacharra's, specifically Claudia. Third, I am sort of going to fall in line with TPTB on GH and say that Ric never really had a relationship Claudia or Alyssa; however, they did know about him and there were meetings when they were young, but that was before Alyssa was really grown up at all so there would be no real way of him knowing that Emily and Alyssa were related. As a matter of fact he doesn't even really remember her and the ONLY reason she remembers him is because he is Trevor's son and she's always been wary of Trevor. Okay, I think that's all for now, read on…
Oh, also, Robin is about four months along in this story and she and Patrick are living together and trying to work things out. I'm sick of TPTB taking forever to have them both just suck it up and be together. Okay, I think that's really all this time. Read on…
Two days later after the car bombing...
"Well aren't you two a pair," Johnny grinned at his sister and cousin as he walked into the family room and noticed Claudia leaning back on the couch and Alyssa slouched down in the big burgundy chair next to the fireplace. Both of them had glasses of ice water in their hands, Claudia rested hers on her bruised and bandaged abdomen and Alyssa rested hers on her forehead, and both of them looked like they hadn't slept in months.
"Mean," Alyssa groaned as she took the cool glass off of her head. She'd recovered nicely from her time in the hospital, but she'd also left the day before against medical advice, along with Claudia, and as her headache got worse and worse she was beginning to regret that decision.
"Yeah," he smiled and sat down next his sister with a loud plop, "but you love me anyway. I have good news, would you two beautiful ladies like to hear it?"
Neither woman said anything for a minute until Claudia finally grunted and pulled herself into an upright position, "What's the news?" She smiled as she asked, her brother hadn't been in the best of moods since she'd come to town, but Alyssa functioned as a nice buffer zone between them when they needed and she also reminded him what it was like when the three of them were together. More and more he was coming out of his shell of anger and letting the two of them into his life and his heart again.
"I knew you couldn't resist. Michael Corinthos called his mother yesterday and confessed to shooting Kate Howard, by accident. The boy is back at home and safe in mommy and daddies arms and the Corinthos organization owes us an apology. What form do you two think we should take it in?"
"Well," Claudia grinned and shot Alyssa a conniving look, "I think we should ask Jason Morgan and that beautiful body of his perform a nice little strip tease for us. What do you say Ally?"
"Bite me," her cousin groaned from the chair.
"My pleasure," Claudia laughed as she leaned over and closed her teeth lightly over her cousin's arm.
"Gross, freak! Johnny please control your sister."
"I don't think so," Johnny said as he looked between the two of them. It had been years since he'd seen his sister playful with anyone, of course it had been years since he'd seen her at all really, but even when she first stepped foot in Port Charles he could tell that she was the same old Claudia, never letting love in unless she wanted it there, which was rare. "I also don't think that's what we'll be asking for. How about the use of his shipping lanes and piers?"
"For what?"
Claudia turned to her brother and shook her head.
"For what," Alyssa repeated.
"Shipping," Claudia answered and sat completely up so that her back was straight up against the back of the couch.
"I got that. Shipping what Claudia?"
"Nothing."
"Johnny. Shipping what?"
"Uh," Johnny looked between the two women and scratched his chin. He had two choices, tell his cousin the truth so that he wouldn't have to listen to her nagging or lie so he wouldn't have to listen to his sister nagging. The definition of a rock and a hard place.
"Whatever needs to be shipped."
"Drugs," Alyssa pulled herself upright and moved the cover that was resting over her legs. "Are you planning on shipping drugs?"
"Ally…" Claudia said the nickname as a warning, but she knew she was about to be in for a fight.
"I can't believe this. You can't seriously be thinking about shipping drugs through this town, you can't be thinking about shipping drugs at all. First, it's wrong and yes, I know, mobsters aren't exactly the moral compass of the world, but come on. Second, it's too dangerous. Drugs are the first things that cops and Feds look for when trying to build a case against someone. You know it's the best way for them to win in the court of public opinion and you know it's the one of the very few things that jury's don't need or care for a lot of evidence to convict on. You can't seriously be thinking about taking this risk."
"We don't exactly have a choice…" Johnny let the explanation fall after he noticed two very angry women staring at him. "What?"
"Jesus Johnny," Claudia brushed her fingers through her hair and shook her head. "You know you can't tell everyone everything."
"She's family. She's Alyssa."
"Yeah," the other woman perked up. "I'm family, I'm Alyssa. What's happening?"
"You don't want to be involved in the business," Claudia reminded her cousin. "Never have."
"Except," Alyssa argued, "in very special and dangerous situations. This sounds like one of them."
"She has a point," Johnny spoke up from his corner of the couch. He also hadn't been completely convinced of his sisters plan to move drugs through the Corinthos territory until she told him why she was doing it and if their cousin had any idea, and she was always full of ideas, how to get them out of the deal he was up for hearing about it.
"Fine," Claudia groaned and shook her head. "It's Ian."
"Ian, Ian? Dr. Devlin, Ian? What does he have to do with it?"
"I wasn't thinking when Johnny was first kidnapped and I didn't know about your relationship with Emily Quartermaine so I called Ian and told him I might need his help handling Sonny Corinthos. He agreed and even though I never really used him he's threatening to tell Corinthos and Morgan that I was considering, well, something stupid to get Johnny back and…"
"What were you considering," Alyssa asked, wary of her cousins' vagueness.
"Listen I already got yelled at by Johnny yesterday when I told him; I don't need you getting bitchy with me too. Alright."
"What were you considering?"
"God," Claudia groaned. "Listen, the people in this town are pretty dumb and they talk about things out in the open. I heard that Elizabeth Webber's, the dinky brunette…"
"I know who you are talking about," Alyssa rolled her eyes. Elizabeth Webber had stared at her with suspicious eyes the day before as she was signing herself out of the hospital. Not that she could really blame the woman, it wasn't every day you ran into someone who looked like your dead best friend, but that coupled with Claudia's recounting of the story about Nikolas Cassadine yelling outside of her room did not endear Liz Webber to her in any way.
"Right. Anyway, her baby boy is Jason Morgan's son. Since I hadn't actually kidnapped Michael Corinthos, so I couldn't bargain with his freedom, I was considering taking the boy. Just considering," Claudia said defensively as her cousin shot her a disappointed look. "Well I didn't do it, but Ian knew I thought about it and that alone, I think, would push Morgan far enough over the edge to break the shaky truce we've got going here."
"Agreed," Alyssa said, choosing not to comment on the kidnapping plan. As much as it pissed her off, she knew how much Claudia loved Johnny and she knew that fighting over something that never actually happened wasn't going to get them anywhere. "So it's Ian's drugs you are considering moving through Port Charles."
"Yes."
Alyssa blew out a breath and shook her head, "Okay, I have an idea, but I need you to trust me on this one."
"What," Johnny asked warily. Claudia's plans generally ended with either bloodshed or him bailing her out of jail and, if he remembered her correctly, Alyssa plans probably wouldn't end much differently.
"Geez," Alyssa laughed. "Don't freak. I'm not going to doing anything horrible; I just want to have a nice, civil conversation with Morgan. That's all."
"Not alone. One of use goes with you," Claudia said automatically.
"No. See, I said civil, you and Johnny don't do civil real well where either Corinthos or Morgan are concerned. Anyway, this can be our apology from them, Morgan meets me alone. No
Corinthos, no guards, just me and him in a neutral place of his choosing to talk things over. I'll see if I can get a feel of how much he knows about Ian and Trevor and whoever else and he'll probably be doing the same thing with me. No harm, no foul, everyone gets what they want."
"Especially you," Claudia grinned mischievously.
"What does that mean?"
"I saw the way you looked at him the other day in Corinthos' office."
"What," Alyssa rolled her eyes. "You mean before or after he told me to leave town. Jesus. The man is my dead sister's big brother; I am not interested in anything from him except what he can do for us and what he can tell me about her."
"Oh don't tell me you didn't notice that body and the deep, soulful, puppy dog blue eyes. Come on."
"So the guys not nice eyes, so what? That doesn't mean I'm gonna try and molest him for god's sake. Grow up."
"Please," Johnny scrubbed his hands down his face. "Can we not talk about this?"
Claudia grinned over at her brother and reached out to touch is hand, "You want me to start in on you and Dodo Spencer then?"
"Lulu," Johnny corrected through clenched teeth, "and no."
"Oooh," Alyssa smiled. "Who's Lulu? Some hot, young thing Johnny wants to get nekkid?"
"I think he's probably already gotten her naked."
Alyssa raised her eyebrows and looked over at her younger cousin, "Uh oh, do we need to check and make sure this girl is good enough for you? You know all the men in this family have shitty taste in women."
"Hey," both Claudia and Johnny yelled simultaneously.
"Except your father of course."
"My father and I are the only men in this family."
"Well then," Alyssa rolled her eyes. "I guess that means you have shitty taste in women."
Johnny slouched down in the couch and crossed his arms over his chest, "Do not."
"Whatever," Alyssa pulled out her cell phone. "Anyone got Morgan's number?"
Jason Morgan stepped through the door of his penthouse to find Spinelli and Maxie Jones sitting on his couch, their heads both hovering over a computer screen and looks of concentration on their faces.
"Hey, Stone Cold," Spinelli looked up from his screen. "How did the conversation with young Michael, the Valkyrie, and Mr. Corinthos Sir, go?"
Jason just shook his head and sat down on the desk next to the door, "Fine."
"Well, that's…good."
"Uh yeah," Maxie grinned when both Jason and Spinelli shot her guarded looks. "That's my cue to get out of here, but I will be back," she warned Spinelli, "and we will finish what we were doing."
"What were you doing," Jason asked after Maxie left.
"Wha—Oh, nothing."
Jason shook his head absently, sat down at his desk and started searching through papers before turning back around to talk to Spinelli who was staring at him, "What?"
"Me?" Spinelli pointed to himself. "Nothing. I just—you seem distracted, did something happen with young Michael?"
"No."
"Okay," Spinelli drew the word out into three syllables and looked down at his computer screen.
"Can you still get into General Hospital's records with that thing?"
"I am still the assassin of cyber space, am I not?" Spinelli asked absently and then looked up to see Jason giving him an annoyed look. "Yes."
"Good. I need you to compare Emily and Alyssa blood to see if they are twins."
"Uh, well," Spinelli scratched his head and stood up. "As smart as the Jackal may be, since I am not a doctor that feat may be somewhat beyond my skills. I wouldn't know what to look for, but…"
Spinelli trailed off and Jason asked, "But what?"
"Well, the bad blon—Maxie did work at General Hospital, sort of, for a short time maybe she could be helpful with this task."
"How?"
"Maybe…maybe if I could work on one of the computers inside the hospital I could compare their medical records, I mean that wouldn't be much but it would be enough to tell us she isn't Nobel Emily—we don't know she's not Nobel Emily yet do we. I mean for sure?"
Jason shook his head, but Spinelli continued on, undeterred, "Listen the Jackal is willing to help in any way that he can, especially if it will give you the closure that many so often talk about where things of this magnitude are concerned. Give me a chance to help you with this Stone Cold. Please."
Jason only nodded, "Alright, but be careful, I don't want you getting into trouble."
"Of course, the Jackal will be most vigilant on this mission of mass importance and I'm sure that Maxie will be a valuable asset to our team."
"Whatever," Jason said before reaching into his pocket and pulling out his ringing phone. "Morgan."
"This is neutral," Alyssa asked as she opened the door to the grimy room above Jake's.
"Yes."
"Hmm…Maybe I should have had Claudia ask for neutral and sanitary. Will I catch anything if I sit on this bed?" She was already bending down to sit as he shrugged his shoulders. "So what's up? How's the family? Wrongly accuse anyone of kidnapping lately?"
Jason said nothing, only sat on the chair that was pushed up against the wall.
"I bet you liked me a lot better when I was unconscious huh? Just like a man to go for the girl who is on a bed and incapable of speech. So what are we gonna do here? Get into a hard-core staring match? I gotta say, you'd probably win, I don't have much patience."
"You arranged for this meeting."
"Touché. We have a mutual problem, I talked Claudia and Johnny into letting me try to work it out with you myself before things go too far. Are you interested or am I just wasting my breath here?"
"I'm here aren't I?"
"Jesus," Alyssa groaned and leaned back on her elbows. "Claudia was right; you really don't talk much at all. It's kind of annoying."
"You talk a lot."
"Yeah, that's what everyone says. I just don't know when to shut up. Talk, talk, talk. You get used to it."
Jason only raised his eyebrows.
"Well," Alyssa amended, "you would if you were going to be around me a lot, but since I'm betting you plan on avoiding me like the plague I guess that won't be a problem for you now will it?"
Again, Jason said nothing, only stared at her.
"Right," Alyssa shook her head. "Have you ever heard the name Ian Devlin?"
"He's a doctor."
"Give the boy a prize. He's a plastic surgeon. You ever ask yourself what a plastic surgeon is doing in Port Charles, New York. Lotta young starlets around here looking for nose jobs?" Alyssa only quirked an eyebrow when Jason didn't respond. "Probably not."
"So who is he?"
"Oh he's a doctor, but I'm willing to be he isn't here just to do facelifts on the aging women in this town or give boob jobs to the young bimbos. He's got an agenda. Always has. And you may also want to ask yourself why someone who has met me, on more than one occasion, didn't put together my face with Emily Quartermaines…especially since faces are his business. I'm just saying…"
"You aren't saying anything. Why is he here?"
"You know it's not my job to do your job for you, I just wanted to let you know to look out for him and be careful, he'll use whatever he needs to, to win. Trust me."
"Why are you telling me this? Why doesn't one of your cousins just take care of him, unless he's working with them?"
"Good question."
"I'm not playing games with you or your family."
"You'd be up past your bedtime if you tried sweetheart. I'm not playing games either, I'm just telling you he's dangerous and you may want to look out for him, especially since he's listed as Nikolas Cassadine's doctor of record right now."
"So that's all…"
"No," she shook her head. "But that's all I'm going to tell you. Just think of it as a head start, you know he's dangerous, you know where he is, now all you have to do is find out what he's up to."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because I'm not interested in fighting with you and I'm not interested in seeing my cousins fight with you. I've done some research on you and Sonny Corinthos and you have yet to come up against someone you couldn't beat…neither has Claudia. I'm not interest in being collateral damage in your fight against her and I'm not interested in seeing someone my sister may have loved being collateral damage in her fight against you, and more importantly I'm not going to either her or Johnny's funerals because of this bullshit. Your issues are with Trevor and Anthony, so are theirs. You don't have to work together, but you certainly shouldn't be trying to kill each other. It makes no sense."
"Fine," Jason nodded and then stared at her.
"That's it? Fine. I give you an olive branch, you take a little nibble and just say fine."
"What do you want me to say?"
"I don't know. Nothing, I guess, which one of us is leaving here first?" She only shook her head when he looked at her confused. "Two things. First, I am not leaving here with you so all the guys down in the bar can give you high fives for nailing some chick upstairs, and second I don't want anyone to see us together. We aren't exactly broadcasting this meeting around town if you hadn't guessed."
Jason only shrugged his shoulders, walked to the door, and opened it before saying, "We had people watching Lansing. He made a call right before you car blew up. We don't know about Zacharra or, I guess, Devlin."
"Thank—" She didn't even finish the acknowledgment before he was out the door.
Alyssa counted to one hundred and twenty, figure two minutes was enough time for people not to assume they were together, unless they were paying attention and then it wouldn't matter anyway, and left the room. She immediately noticed the man standing, blocking her path, at the bottom of the stairs, but she guessed he wasn't working for either Anthony or Trevor from the way he waivered on unsteady legs so she just shook her head and walked to the bottom of the stairs, "Excuse me."
"Hey sweetie," he looked up at her, his green eyes showing a little more comprehension of the situation than she'd expected and said, "Come back upstairs with me."
"Well," Alyssa drew the word out and put her hands on the railing just above his hoping that if he swayed enough she'd be able to move past him quickly. She really wasn't up for a fight, not in her condition. She was still in considerable pain from being thrown from a flaming car and she wasn't moving very quickily. "As appealing as that sounds, I'm really not interested today."
"I wasn't asking." He climbed up the three stairs to stand in front of her with more agility than she'd expected, apparently he wasn't quite as drunk as she'd thought. Or hoped.
"Yeah, I was worried you'd say that. Listen buddy, you don't want to do this with me today alright? Just let me pass."
He reached up, grabbed her by her shoulders and slammed her into the wall next to her so that her head flew back and her neck gave a quick jolt. Before she was completely certain of what, exactly, was happening his hands were off her shoulders, she was sliding down the wall, and there was noise coming from the bottom of the stairs. She could only hear the sounds of a scuffle and wasn't able to make out who the participants were or who was winning.
Jason passed the man standing at the bottom of the stairs moments before and hadn't realized, until he was almost to his car, what it was about the guy that bothered him, but just as he started to open the door to his car he remembered that he seen the same man sitting at the end of the bar nursing a glass of beer that sat untouched as he walked out the door. There was really no reason for him to go back, he told himself as he shut his door and made his way back into the bar, except that he couldn't figure why the guy had been swaying at the bottom of the stairs if he hadn't even finished his glass of beer. Maybe it was it wasn't the same glass, he told himself, or the same man, but something about the situation didn't seem quite right and he realized what it was as he turned the corner to make his way back up the stairs just in time to see Alyssa Zacharra slammed against the wall.
Without thinking he took the three stairs in one quick leap and threw the guy back down them. He pulled him up a couple of times, though it wasn't strictly necessary since the other man had slammed his head on the stairs on the way down, and bashed his head into the ground before turning around and climbing back up the stairs to Alyssa.
"Are you okay…" he touched his hand to the back of her head to make sure there was no blood and when his fingers came back clean he lightly reached down to check her pulse.
"Ugh," she groaned and leaned forward onto his chest. "I'm fine. Just…a little woozy. We really need to stop meeting like this."
"I'm calling an ambulance." But before he could get to his phone she reached out and took his hand in hers.
"Don't. Please. I don't think I could handle the hospital right now, just…just take me home—No," she realized if she went home to Johnny and Claudia that would probably mean a trip to the emergency room anyway, and possibly a murder if they didn't give Jason the time to tell them what actually happened and that he wasn't responsible. "Umm. Just take me a hotel or something where I can sleep off this migraine. I'll call Claude and John and tell them I wanted to stop for a massage or something."
He looked down at her and shook his head in disgust, "I'm not just going to drop you off at some hotel."
"Why not, I asked you to." She started to stand up, but just as she made it to her feet the hallway started spinning and she slumped back against the wall. She turned her head to get one more satisfying look at the man who had attacked her and was met with a surprise, "Where did he go?"
"Who," Jason held her elbow in his hand to balance her and started to step closer to hold her up, but she shoved him back.
"The guy," she pointed to the empty hallway at the bottom of the stairs. "Where'd he go?"
Jason turned his head to look where he left the man and groaned, "He's gone."
She made a disgusted sound and shoved him away, "I can see that. Why did you let him get away?"
He whipped his head around to stare at her and when he saw the serious look on her face he only shook his head.
"What are you doing?" She asked as he lifted her into his arms and carried her down the stairs. "Where are we going?"
"Doctor," was his only response as he carried her out the club to hoots and hollers from the other patrons and a wink from Coleman.
"I said," she wrapped her hands around his neck as he pushed open the bar door, "I don't want to go to the hospital. Are you deaf as well as incompetent?"
This time he just completely ignored her as he opened the passenger side door to his car and dropped her in. He scrubbed his hands over his face as he walked around the back of the car and stared in at her through the back window. She was rubbing her forehead and toying with the cup holder between the two seats.
"What doctor," she asked has he slid into the driver seat. "Some psycho mob doctor who lost his license for operating drunk or didn't even get past med school or something? Because if that is the case then I am not interested. At all."
"Shut up."
"Shut up? Are you serious? You're kidnapping me and when I ask you a few questions you tell me to shut up. Unbelievable."
"I'm not kidnapping you, I'm taking you to a doctor and I could have left you on the stairs. So, yes, shut up."
She rolled her eyes and leaned back against the head rest, "Gee, I don't know what it is that would make me so defensive, I mean you're such a sweet and caring guy."
He only ignored her as he watched the road in front of him to make sure he was going the right way. After a few minutes of silence he turned his head to look at her and noticed her eyes closed and her shoulders slumped. He reached over and shook her saying, "Hey. Hey, wake up."
"I'm up," she groaned as she turned to stare into his panicked eyes. "I'm fine, I just wanted to rest my head. Sorry. I didn't mean to freak you out or anything."
"You didn't."
"Right," she drew out the word and stared out the window. "So who is this doctor? A friend?"
"Yeah."
"A girl friend."
"What," he turned the wheel and looked at her absently out of the corner of his eye. "Huh."
"Your friend, is she going to be pissed off because you're bringing another woman to her place? A woman you just had a meeting with in a seedy bar? Is she the jealous type, this doctor-friend of yours?"
"No."
"No what," she rolled her eyes, annoyed. "No she's not your girlfriend or no she's not the jealous type."
"Neither," he pulled into the apartment garage and parked the car. "Can you walk on your own?"
"I'm not an invalid. I don't know why you're bringing me here anyway…" He was around the front of the car as soon as she trailed off and leaned against the car. He placed his arm around her waist and pulled her up so that she was facing him.
"You were saying?"
"Fine. Maybe I'm not completely healthy. I just…I don't really like doctors. You know? All the poking and prodding and taking of blood and stuff. They're…they always want you to pee in something or, like, give you a shot for something. I don't like it…"
He grinned at her rant and pulled her onto the elevator as she continued on.
"…and why is it that they are always telling you something isn't going to hurt when they know it is. I mean when was the last time you were poked with something and it didn't hurt. I wanna stab one of them with a needle and see if they are still so damn sure it isn't gonna hurt. And then there are the nurses, why do they always want you to imagine walking through a field of flowers? There are things in fields, like bugs and worms and…things. Why would that be calming? A nice, strong run on the beach and a facial and massage to follow it up, that's calming. Fields of flowers are just itchy and they smell bad. I never really understood the whole flower thing either. I mean, yeah, in vases as decoration great, but an actual, like, garden. I don't…" She trailed off as she realized they were stepping off the elevator and he was leading her towards an apartment door.
"Wait," she pulled on his arm as he started to knock. "I don't…I don't know if you guessed, but I am sort of, well, I don't…I'm a little afraid of doctors."
He stared down at her, deadpanned. "Really."
"Okay, obvious, I know, but still…"
"Don't worry," he reached up and knocked on the door. When there wasn't an answer he shook his head and knocked again until he heard a chain being taken off the door.
Alyssa closed her eyes and leaned a little further into Jason as the door was yanked open and a petite brunette stood in the door way with her hair up in a ponytail and pajama pants and a wife beater on.
"Jason," Robin rubbed her hands over her eyes and shook her head. "What are you doing here?"
"Uh." He hadn't exactly thought about how he was going to explain bringing Alyssa Zacharra over at nine o'clock at night. "She hit her head."
"Oh," Robin stepped away from the door and ushered them in. She stared at Alyssa's back and tried to compose herself as the woman who looked exactly like Emily Quartermaine walked into her apartment. "Why didn't yo—"
"Robin?" Patrick Drake walked out from the bedroom in only pajama pants and a bare chest, also rubbing his hands over his eyes. "What's…What's going on here?"
"Uh," Robin looked between Jason and Patrick. "It seems Ms Zacharra…"
"Alyssa," the other woman interrupted.
"Alyssa, hit her head."
"Why didn't you take her to the hospital?"
"Don't like doctors," Alyssa answered from the couch.
"Ah," Patrick walked over to an empty chair, picked up a t-shirt, and threw it over his head. "Yeah, I remember. What happened?" He sat down on the table in front of her and reached to check the pulse in her wrist before pulling up each of her eyelids and looking into her eyes.
"Hit a wall with my head."
"Smart."
"Uhm," Robin looked between her boyfriend and Jason and said, "Jase. Can I see you in the other room?"
Jason looked at Patrick and the other man said, "Sure, go ahead, Alyssa and I are old friends at this point. Aren't we?"
"You don't try to poke me," Alyssa said as she pouted and then relented and nodded to Jason.
He heard Patrick say, "No, no I learned when you reached out and smacked my arm not to try that again," as Robin closed the door to the bedroom.
"What's going on here?"
Jason scrubbed his hands down his face, "She was attacked after we met at Jakes, I couldn't just leave her there and she didn't want to go to the hospital. I didn't know what else to do. Should I have taken her to GH?"
"No," Robin shook her head and sat on the bed. "They probably would have just called Patrick anyway since he put the standing order in her chart that no one who knew Emily sees her unless he approved it. But that's not what I meant. What are you doing with her?"
"I don't know," Jason shook his head and sat on the chair that was across from the bed. "Sonny told me I needed to meet with her, the Zacharra's set it up and after I left there was this guy, he…he looked wrong to me and so I went back in to check on her and he had her up against the wall. I just reacted. The guy got away, but I couldn't leave her there…She, uh, she talks a lot. Too much."
"I've noticed. Jason…"
"She doesn't like doctors or flowers," Jason interrupted.
"What?"
"Doctors and flowers, or gardens, I guess. She doesn't like them. Emily liked flowers a lot and she was a doctor so…"
"She's not Emily."
"I know. I keep…all I can see is the differences, you know, she's got a scar on her eyebrow, her hair is different, she doesn't like doctors or hospitals, she doesn't like gardens, her eyes have more green in them than Emily's did. I can't seem to get all of those things out of my head."
"Jase," Robin shook her hand and scratched her forehead. "It would make sense."
"Sonny thinks she looks like her, Liz says they sound alike, Carly is worried I'll look at her and see Emily and that will distract me, Spinelli too, but I don't see it."
"They're twins Jason, people will see similarities in them, it's normal, they want to look at her and see some piece of the girl they knew and loved…"
"Why don't I?"
"Because you're not everyone else Jason. You don't see things like everyone else does. Think about it this way, you can't really read a map like other people do or look at pictures in the same way, right? So maybe you see this woman differently too, maybe you just have to look at her in a different way than the rest of us do. That's all. Not better, not worse, just different."
"What do you see when you look at her?"
"I see…I see Emily playing on the floor with Michael and at Jake's drinking us all under the table and I see a woman who I don't know and will probably never know. I see a lot of things when I look at her. I see what could have been and what will never be; I see the pain in Monica's face, but that's not the point here is it? What do you see?"
"Is Monica okay?"
"What," Robin shook her head. Sometimes she forgot how Jason could pick up on the small things and zero in on them. "She's fine, I guess. I guess I'm just thinking like a mother…"
"A…mother?"
Robin stood up and flattened her shirt to her stomach and for the first time Jason noticed the little bump sticking out, "You're pregnant? I didn't…"
"You've been a little busy with other things Jason."
He reached out and touched her stomach, "When?"
"Uh, I'm about four months along. It was…after Georgie's funeral. We didn't plan it, but its okay."
"You're happy? You're okay? Everything's…"
"Everything's good," she interrupted, knowing he'd worry about her health. "Patrick is still a little…twitchy, but he's working on it and…I'm gonna be a mother."
Jason smiled and looked down at her again, "That's great, really. I'm happy for you."
"Me too," she laughed and shook her head. She'd also forgotten how good he could be at changing the subject. "Jason. What do you see when you look at her?"
"I don't know," he pinched the bridge of his nose and the chair let out whoosh as he sat back down into it. "At first I thought she looked like Emily, but that was just at first and then I started seeing all the differences and now I can't stop thinking about that."
"You don't want to be…you don't want to use this woman to try and replace your sister Jason, that's admirable, especially considering the danger. There's nothing wrong with it. You've got a lot on your mind with Michael and this woman and Liz and…"
"You know?"
"Oh God," she laughed, "I think everyone knows Jason. You two are just about the worst people to ever try and keep a secret. I'm sorry." She doubled over as he shot her a shocked look and she continued laughing.
"That bad?"
"No, no, I'm sure not everyone knows, I mean the new waitress at Kelly's probably hasn't figured it out."
Jason on shook his head and smiled, "We should get back out there."
"Probably," Robin grinned at him and reached her hand out, "help the pregnant woman up."
"So," Patrick leaned forward on the table and stared into Alyssa eyes. "Anything hurt?"
Alyssa shot him an annoyed looked and said, "I got my head bashed against a wall. What do you think?"
"I think that probably felt pretty bad, but I was asking about other than the general crappiness of having your head bashed against the wall. Any nauseous, neck aches, back aches, blurry vision…"
"I was a little woozy on the way up here."
Patrick smiled. "Well you had your head bashed against a wall, that's to be expected."
"Wow. Are you a comedian or a doctor?"
"Doctor. So what happened—other than the head bashing, I got that part."
"I really don't know. I was coming down the stairs at Jakes and there was this guy there, he sort of creeped me out, but I just thought he was drunk so I decide to keep going and next think I know my head is bouncing off the wall and Morgan is bouncing creepy guys head off the floor."
"Good thing he was there."
"Yeah," she rubbed the back of her head where it was still a little sore. "So I don't have a concussion or anything?"
"Well, to really be sure I'd have to check you out at the hospital, but…" he continued on before she could protest, "I think you'll be fine. Just be careful with yourself and if you have any of the symptoms I asked you about then go to the hospital right away, don't put if off because you don't like doctors. Okay?"
"Alright."
"So what happened? You had a bad experience with a needle when you were young or something?"
"Or something. My dad got sick when I was a teenager and he died. Cancer. I just…I wasn't expecting it; I thought he was the toughest guy in the world and the doctors kept telling us that the treatment was working and then he was just gone. I never really thought he'd die and…I don't know, I haven't really trusted doctors or hospitals since. I mean if someone as strong as him can't be fixed then…"
"Then what does that mean for you," he finished. "Yeah, I get it. My mom died when I was a kid, my dad was her doctor and I thought for sure he would save her. I guess I decided that I wasn't gonna let that happen to any other little boy. Different people, different reactions."
"What about Emily? Do you know why she became a doctor?"
"We never really talked about it, but I think there were a lot of reasons. I guess her first mom died of cancer and I know Monica Quartermaine had breast cancer, so did Emily, and Alan and Monica were both doctors. So I'm sure all of those things played a part. Also, she just liked helping people, saving them, and she was good at it. She one of the calmest people, under pressure, I've ever met."
Patrick noticed the interested look on her face and decided to step a little bit out of his own comfort zone. He said, "You know if you really want to know about Emily, who she was, why she became a doctor, things like that, the best person to ask would be Jason. Most people say he knew her better than anyone and from what I saw that's probably the truth."
"I don't think he likes me much."
"I don't think he likes anyone much, but if there are things you really want to know about her then he's the person to ask. Just think about it."
"Alright," she grinned down at her fingers as she toyed with them. She was always fidgeting when she was uncomfortable. "I thought you were a brain doctor, but your acting like an all around head doctor. When did you get the degree in psychology?"
"About the time I found out my girlfriend was pregnant. Now I can't stop giving people advice."
"Okay," she argued with herself over whether or not to broach this subject, but the friendly feelings she was developing for the man in front of her forced her into it. "Well as long as we're giving each other advice can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"Ian Devlin. I saw you talking and joking with him when I was in the hospital, what is your relationship?"
"We were friends in med school," Patrick answered, confused.
"You know people change. How long has it been?"
"A while."
"Yeah," Alyssa nodded. "I'm just saying, it might be dangerous to rebuild a friendship with a guy you haven't really had a relationship in a while. Especially if you're about to become a father…"
"What…"
"I'm just saying, be careful. People change."
Patrick only nodded his head as Jason and Robin came back into the living room from the bedroom.
"Well," Patrick smiled as he got up from his seat on the table and walked over to Robin, wrapping a protective arm around her waist, "the patient will live. I told her what to be careful of, but I really don't think there was too much damage done. Just a little shock and probably a good bruise."
"Alright," Alyssa stood up, suddenly aware of the tension between herself and Morgan. Tension that she wasn't interested in subjecting a pregnant woman or the doctor who had been very nice to her to. "I think we can go now then. I should probably get home to Johnny and Claudia before they send out a search party. Thank you Doctor Scorpio, Doctor Drake."
"Robin," the other woman said as the four of them walked to the door and she let them out. "And don't mention it."
"I won't," Alyssa said seriously as the door was shut behind her.
"Uhm, would you mind dropping me off at the compound? I don't want to deal with Claudia and Johnny yelling about me driving. I'll call and warn them that you're dropping me off. Okay?"
"Fine," Jason said as he held the elevator door open for her.
"I warned Dr. Drake about Ian."
Jason wanted to be upset. He wanted to ask here where she got off warning civilians about mobsters, but mostly he wanted to kick himself for not doing it first. As soon as Robin told him about being pregnant he should have warned her about the doctor that he'd seen both her and Patrick talking to on more than one occasion, but he just hadn't thought about it.
"Is that okay?"
"It's fine."
Alyssa only nodded her head and for the first time in a long time she had nothing else to say. Except for her call to her cousins telling them that Jason Morgan would be dropping her off and she'd explain to them later there was no speaking on the trip to the Zacharra compound. She said nothing to him, except a quick thank you and he said nothing to her, except a muted welcome as he dropped her off at the compound doors and drove off.